


THIS IS WHY ATTACHMENTS ARE BAD

by subtropicalStenella



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Can You Die From Embarrassment, Comedy, Empathic Abilities Are A Curse, Everything is awful, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Partial Mind Control, Someone Say Yes, accidental mind control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-23 22:21:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12517852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/subtropicalStenella/pseuds/subtropicalStenella
Summary: Sometimes, having a psychic link with other people incredibly useful. Other times, it's a source of soul-crushing embarrassment and makes you want to throw yourself out an airlock.





	THIS IS WHY ATTACHMENTS ARE BAD

This. This is why Jedi avoid attachment.

I didn't even realize I'd done anything wrong, until I noticed that everyone was staring at me in various stages of shock and, in the case of Kanan,  _ horror. _  Right on target too, despite the whole  _being blind_ thing. That was kinda the tip-off. That and it took a  _ lot  _ to shock Kallus.

Kanan had some… issues with my abilities with the Force. They were completely different from his, which hadn't been uncommon among the Jedi, even among Master-Padawan pairs, according to Ahsoka.

Even if she took strongly after her Master, developing supernatural speed, reflexes and strength that translated beautifully into her saberwork. 

 

Kanan was all brute force, all push-pull-lift-throw manipulation of people and objects and his environment in relation to himself. It was a subset of those abilities that sometimes made it really hard to believe he was genuinely blind, nowadays. Apparently this also meant some scholars of the Old Ways (really, really old, like, legendary millennia ago old) would class him as a Jedi Sage, rather than a Knight, which pretty much everyone found hilarious, with Kanan's hardscrabble, roughneck past.

Kanan and Ahsoka could mindtrick people and calm animals, but they can't do what  _ I  _ can do. They both had marvelled at how quickly I went from getting mauled by lothcats and botching infiltrations to things like… well, things like that Walker.

_ That _ scared Kanan, Sith holocron aside, and it had some downsides. I picked up things from others’ minds sometimes. It wasn't often, and it wasn't usually very clear but…

 

Look if Sabine got a song stuck in her head, chances are, I'd end up humming it. It happened least often with Zeb, but he'd had some truly hellacious nightmares that had made  _ me _ wake up screaming.

And Kanan _loved_ Hera. Like, really, _really_ , live-and-die-for-her, stars-shined-out-her-ass **_loved_** her. I could feel it even under everything else, all the rage and pain and grief and _guilt_ of losing his sight that was slowly, _so_ slowly fading as time passed. It was almost gross, how sweet he was on her.

I couldn't decide if it was better or worse that she felt just as intensely for him. Maybe more. I'm pretty sure I have a stronger connection with Kanan on account of the whole both-being-Force-users-thing, and Hera has the absolute best sabacc face in the  _ galaxy  _ so it's a little harder to pin her down. Either way, they'd completely ruined romance for me, because if whoever I ended up with didn't feel like  _ that,  _ then what was the point?

I didn't mind “overhearing” that so much, it was the  _ other _ feelings Kanan had about Hera and vice-versa. Which, it wasn't like they were gross about  _ that _ , either, don't get me wrong. They were discreet and--after that one incident that had me banging on Hera’s door and yelling at both of them--they made sure they were really  _ alone  _ before getting up to  _ that  _ kind of mischief. It was just that it was hard enough being a teenager and living with a pretty, funny, crazy-smart and sometimes downright  _ scary _ Mandalorian and then meeting her equally capable, handsome brother, and then there was  _ Jai _ and--

I really didn't need to know just how much Kanan appreciated Laundry Day and how that meant Hera ditched her flightsuit for soft, tight shorts and one of Kanan's more horribly lurid-patterned, raggedy sweaters with the neck stretched out and falling off her shoulder. It was  _ weird.  _ That was the  _ one  _ nice thing about Kanan withdrawing into himself for so long, even if it was horrible in its own way. 

 

Things were almost back to normal now, or as normal as anything got in the middle of a war.

Even if it was more crowded lately. Zeb couldn't take up the entire common area couch reading his trashy holonovels anymore, because Kallus was sitting on one side and Fenn on the other, watching me  _ let _ Sabine kick my ass at pazaak. 

 

… for the last nine hands in a row.

I was luring her into a false sense of security.

Or... something.

 

But all of that meant Hera had to climb  _ over  _ Zeb’s legs sticking out from under the table and then use Chopper as a footstool to get to the tiny washing machine and shove Kanan sideways onto the dryer so she could dump the next load of clothing in. A mixed batch, everyone's but Sabine's got put in together. She had to do her own, separately, ever since a “forgotten” pocketful of paint pellets coated the inside of the washer and ruined an entire  _ week’s _ worth of everyone’s clothes. 

 

Kanan liked it when it was crowded, now. He would sit quietly and just… well,  _ watch _ was the wrong word, but he'd sit quietly and _observe_ , mapping out the way people moved, where they were, whatever he needed to do to feel like he could sense everything and everyone again. Usually with Sabine flipping bits of trail mix or dry cereal at him to catch out of the air in his mouth.

Unfortunately with this many people around, everyone was inside each other's pockets  _ constantly.  _ No  one got any time alone. It wasn't like when they first started out together, and he could just--

 

**_thwap_ **

 

The sound of Kanan's open hand striking Hera’s ass  _ echoes _ through the common room, and I look up from my cards because  _ seriously  _ Kanan? It’s great that you've gotten your libido back,  _ hoo-fucking-ray _ for you, but we're  _ all _ here and--

And Hera is standing next to  _ me _ , not Kanan, completely frozen bolt-upright with her lekku stiff and pointed sharply downward and--

 

Oh.

 

Oh hell. 

 

Zeb breaks the silence first,  _ howling  _ with laughter like one of the not-canid, not-feline plains scavenger feliforms, Fenn fucking  _ chokes _ on his drink and Sabine slaps both hands over her mouth, cards flying--aw dammit I would have  _ won  _ this hand--and Kallus is staring around the room like he's been transported to another reality and isn't sure how to react yet.

 

…

 

_**I**_  just slapped Hera’s ass.

Chopper is going to kill me, if I don't kill myself first.

_ After  _ I kill--

 

“ _ Kanan!” _

 

Oh good, at least Hera knows where to lay the blame, and yells with me.

Despite the fact that the expression is functionally useless, apparently what's left of Kanan's eyes get  _ really _ wide when he's surprised.

“I-I… I’m sorry, I… I guess I project more, now?” he stammers awkwardly, still sitting cross-legged on the dryer with his wrists on his knees.

_ “No, you think?!” _ I snarl, and Hera takes a very deep breath, dropping the laundry basket on the table. Kanan looks and feels utterly  _ mortified _ , he might actually feel worse than I do about this.  _ Good _ . I'm mostly just embarrassed and a little grossed out because it's  _ Hera. _ Kanan is… a lot of things, most of which amount to  _ I am such an asshole  _ and  _ Oh fuck  _ and  _ I am  _ so _ sorry _ and  _ This is going to be  _ hilarious  _ in a couple years if we live that long  _ and  _ Seriously I am  _ such _ an asshole. _

 

“You,  _ out _ ,” Hera snaps, pointing at Kanan and then the doorway, which just makes Zeb laugh harder because  _ Kanan can't see it _ .

The next order of, “ _ Now _ ,” is followed by Sabine, Fenn  _ and Kallus _ losing their collective shit when Kanan jumps off the dryer and bolts out the door like a well-trained akk anyway.

_ “I _ am going to talk to him about  _ manners _ ,” Hera says with completely forced calm. “And then  _ you  _ are going to make him work with you on  _ shielding. _ ”

 

The menace in her voice would be a lot more believable if I couldn't feel how hard it was for her to keep her own laughter stifled and off her face, because as far as she's concerned, it's hilarious  _ right now. _

It all makes sense now. This is why people turn to the Dark Side: clearly the only way to escape this is to kill everyone around me and then light myself on fire. 

  
Or maybe just bury my face in my hands and let Sabine deal out another hand of pazaak while Kallus moves the laundry aside, and pray to any and all the stars that  _ talking  _ doesn't turn into _Everyone off the Ghost, they're_ **_Talking._ **

 

...

 

It _was_ kind of nice to hear everyone laughing, though.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[PODFIC] This Is Why Attachments Are Bad](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16050389) by [lalabob11](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalabob11/pseuds/lalabob11)




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